Reviews: Sandford, John

Saturn Run —
John Sandford & Ctein

Ctein
and John Sandford’s Saturn Run came out to great acclaim in
2015. I am a big fan of hard SF set in our solar system, so I was
very interested. At the same time I am incredibly cheap, so I didn’t
run out and buy it. Instead, I put a hold on it at my local library1.
My decision to seek it out via my local library gave me a useful
measure of just how popular it is, because I had to renew my reserve
request twice and it still took six months for the book to show up in
my spot on Kitchener Public Library’s hold shelf.

Having read it, I am very curious as to how
certain plot elements have been received both inside the US and
outside it.

Six decades into the 21st
century, one unmotivated but very lucky grad student is in the right
place at the right time to witness the detection of an alien
starship. The aliens seemingly have no interest in Earth. Instead
they go into orbit around Saturn, rendezvousing with … something.

By the time China and America can dispatch
expeditions to Saturn, the aliens are gone. But whatever it was that
they visited is still orbiting Saturn. It might offer untold treasure
to whoever can reach it first! (Or perhaps a
devastating plague, but who could imagine a
downer like that?)